Explanation:
Have you ever seen the Andromeda galaxy?
Although
M31
appears as a faint and fuzzy blob to the unaided eye, the light you see will be over two million years old,
making it likely the oldest light you ever will
see directly.
Now rising near a few hours after sunset from mid-latitude northern locations,
Andromeda is
rising earlier
each night and will be visible to northerners all night long starting in September.
The featured image captured
Andromeda rising above the
ItalianAlps last month.
As cool as it may be to see this
neighboring galaxy to our
Milky Way
with your own eyes, long duration camera exposures can pick up many
faint and
breathtaking details.
Recent data indicates that our Milky Way Galaxy
will collide and coalesce
with the slightly larger Andromeda galaxy in a few billion years.